FirstNews Briefs for July 27, 2011

• The FCC has asked three tower companies for information in connection with its review of AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA. SBACommunications, Crown Castle International and American Tower have been asked to provide information about the location of their towers, which wireless operators have equipment on those towers and whether the towers have room to fit additional equipment. AT&T says T-Mobile's towers are located near its own, adding to the benefits of the merger.

• Microsoft has released Windows Phone 7 Mango for manufacturing. The Mango version of the operating system will be installed on Nokia's upcoming Windows Phone devices. "This is excellent news for all those involved in the Windows Phone ecosystem and gets us one step closer to delivering the first Nokia with Windows Phone smartphone this year," Nokia said on its official blog.

• Leap Wireless has reached an agreement with investor Pentwater Capital Management, which started a proxy fight earlier this month to get three of its nominees on the company's board of directors. Pentwater has been dissatisfied with Leap's management, claiming the company has mismanaged its handset inventory, done a poor job of following through on its mobile broadband plans and made a mistake when it rejected MetroPCS' 2007 merger bid. Under the new agreement, Pentwater nominees Richard Roscitt and Robert Switz have been added to Leap's board of directors, expanding the board to nine members. Roscitt will serve on the company's committees overseeing salary, nominations and corporate governance.

• Ping4 has come out with a local deals service for cell phones. Ping4Deals offers real-time, location-sensitive alerts on nearby discounts. The app is available for free on the iPhone and will soon be available on Android smartphones. The service is available to retailers for a "nominal fee."